The Perfect Green Smoothie

Historically, I've always been more of a salad guy. There's something great about the time it takes to both prepare and eat a huge salad, like the Synchro Salad - it's a meditative process that facilitates a connection between you and your food that I believe shouldn't be undervalued.

Still, sometimes it's nice to be able to just throw some ingredients in a blender and still get the exact nutrition you want to put in your body.

This is why I set out to develop the perfect green smoothie - one with loads of detoxifying and anti-inflammatory greens, healthy fats, proteins, fibers and micronutrients - and one that was (hopefully) delicious.

Success.

Best of all, prep takes under 10 minutes and you can run out the door with a killer meal that is not only delicious, but will make you feel *awesome* when you're done with it.

Ingredients

1 Small Bunch Organic Kale (6-7 Big Leaves)

1 Medium Organic Avocado

1 Medium Ripe Banana, frozen

1 Handful Fresh Cilantro

1-2 Raw Pasture-Raised Eggs

1 Small Slice Fresh Jalapeno

8oz Spring Water

1 Large Ice Cube

Instructions

1. Tear the kale into relatively large pieces, removing larger sections of stem. The stems are bitter compared to the kale leaves, and while your blender would likely handle them, the final product will taste better is you take the time to remove them. Place the torn kale in a large bowl and rinse under cold water.

Torn kale in a bowl, ready for a rinse. (Synchro Gold bottle for size reference)

2. Tear/cut a handful of fresh cilantro, trying to minimize the amount of stem that makes it into the portion (same reason as with the kale). Throw this in your blender along with a small slice of fresh jalapeno.

3. Add 8oz of cold spring water to the blender. Fill blender with as much kale as can fit in loosely. Packing all of the kale into the blender at once (if even possible) will make blending a pain in the ass.

4. Fire up the blender on high speed. You may have to agitate the kale in the blender a bit to get it to blend.

5. Add the remaining kale to the blender slowly while the blender is running.

6. Wait perhaps 15-30 seconds until the kale is getting smooth in the blender, then add the avocado. This will make the contents of the blender pretty thick, so beware of it gurgling and splashing out the top.

7. Add 1 or 2 raw pasture-raised eggs. I usually use one, but adding a second will make the texture lighter and frothier if you're into that. Raw eggs are fantastic nutritionally, and contain a host of essential fatty acids and vitamins that are degraded or oxidized when an egg is cooked. Plus, for some reason that can't quite be explained by the nutrition alone, eating raw eggs feels f'ing great. If you want to omit this ingredient, feel free - it will still be a delicious shake. (Do be extra sure that the shells of your eggs are perfectly in tact, as cracked shells open up the possibility of salmonella and other contaminants.)

8. Cut your frozen banana into ~1 inch pieces and add to the blender one at a time. By now, the heat of the blender motor will probably have warmed your kale smoothie, and the frozen banana helps to cool it back down. This would also be the time to add an ice cube or two, further cooling the smoothie.

9. Blend until the smoothie is uniform and silky smooth. This may require some stirring/agitating of the blender. If you have a somewhat less-powerful blender, your may have to settle for a slightly-less-than-silky smoothie, but it will still be super tasty.

10. Serve and enjoy! I've made these smoothies and consumed them up to several hours later, and they stay excellent as long as they're kept relatively cool.